A Conman's Farewell
by beautybells
Summary: How does a conman say good bye for the last time? A conman's farewell.   Warning: every single character will die in this except Hughes and Elizabeth so that we can view how people cope.
1. Kate

"Boss, there's something you should see," Diana said briskly, handing over a file. Peter looked up. In side was a case that Neal would enjoy- had Neal been anywhere besides June's since Kate's death two weeks beforehand.

A large warehouse was vandalized with the letters KM4E and many different nicknames like Kate, Monday Girl, and Stamps. The contents of the warehouse was antiques. The antiques were not there, but scattered around New York, always with a sign saying For KM4E. The prize of the collection was on a grave site. Kate Moreau's.

Peter looked up at Diana, who nodded. "Neal's tracker placed him at the crime."

Peter closed his eyes and rubbed his face. "Kate Moreau for ever. But why? And how? He couldn't have done this alone."

Diana sighed and said, "Neal hasn't been arrested yet. I brought the case to you as soon as NYPD dropped it."

Peter nodded and then said, "Were all the antiques found? In decent condition?" he asked. Diana nodded. "Yeah. We got all of them. They were in some pretty weird places, too."

Peter shrugged and said, "So our job's done. Send the antiques to the warehouse and, when Neal is up to it, send him out to scrub off the vandalism. All's fine."

Diana leaned in and whispered, "Send Little Guy, instead." She turned and left to help Jones with something.

Mozzie was up to four in the morning, taking down and scrubing signs. He didn't regret it. Kate deserved the Conman's Farewell in Neal's eyes, and that was good enough for him.


	2. Mozzie

Neal closed his eyes and squeezed Mozzie's hand, knowing it would never respond. He was in a morgue, and Mozzie just wasn't that good of an actor. He opened his eyes, and tears filled them. His partner, his back-up, his second, his friend had died. Of course, the old man was really old and not up to much anymore. Being 98 did that to you. But the world would miss him. Neal pulled out his phone and began calling a team for the Conman's Farewell. As an after thought, he stopped by the Burke's.

He was no longer on Peter's Team, but had taken a full-time job at the FBI. He still saw Peter and El every Sunday for dinner.

"We lost him, Elizabeth. I'm sorry." Peter heard Neal's voice. Wait. Neal's voice? At 10pm?

El was crying, and Neal obviously had recently, too. Peter wrapped his arms around his wife and glared at Neal. "Who's lost?" he demanded. Neal didn't meet Peter's eyes. "Moz. He died around an hour ago. I thought I'd come in person to break the news before..." he trailed off.

El extracted herself from her husband's grip and went to make tea. Peter's glare had turned to shock. He sat down before glancing at Neal. "Before what?"

Neal shrugged. "Before I go and begin the Conman's Farewell."

Peter cocked his head. "What? Theft and Vandalism?"

Neal gave a watery chuckle. "Yeah. One last Con in honor of Mozzie. Something he'd enjoy looking at. If we get caught, we get caught together. And we'll have the satisfaction of knowing that Mozzie's been taken care of. It's the most important thing you can do for a person, in that world."

Peter had a list of reason's why Neal shouldn't do it, but he couldn't bring himself to give them. Instead, he told Neal to hang on. He remembered how Mozzie had helped his wife when he himself wasn't there. He'd grown accustomed to the conspiracy theories and conniving plans. And Moz had helped him, Peter Burke, more than once. And damn if Peter wasn't going to say thanks.

He returned in his paint clothes and with a can of glow-in-the-dark paint and said, "I'm coming, too."

The next day, a certain file containing reports of a vandalized warehouse that was missing all of its code-breaking machines (which turned up in several places where Mozzie was known to frequent) mysteriously got shredded. The vandalism said only :DMH Conspiracy.

And Peter found out why he was called Mozzie. Dante Mozart Haversham liked the nickname Neal had given him.


End file.
